Thin strips of meat salted and dried in the wind and sun, carried in the saddlebag. Light, almost indestructible, it nourishes the warrior far from any cauldron.

Why this dish? Roman sources, struck by the lightning speed of Attila's horsemen, describe Huns who seemed never to leave their horses, eating almost in the saddle. Dried and salted meat was the ideal food for these lightning raids across Europe.

When we ride from dawn to dusk, we don't wait for the cauldron to boil. We slice the meat thin as a leather strap, salt it, let it dry in the plain's wind, and stuff it in the saddlebag. Chew it in the saddle, it keeps a man upright three days without fire. That's how we fall on the enemy before he's done trembling.

How it was made : The legend that the Huns tenderized meat under their saddles (reported by Ammianus Marcellinus) is likely a Roman exaggeration meant to portray them as barbarians. However, drying and salting meat were real and universal preservation techniques among steppe peoples, essential for long campaigns.

The contemporary twist : This is the ancestor of jerky: cut the strips a little thicker and serve them as a snack at aperitif time, in a small leather pouch like a Hun rider.

Sources : Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae, book XXXI

Attila · Charactorium